Events

Covid Separated… Virtually Connected!

Due to limitations, this year, the SPAC Board voted to hold our event virtually. The only thing missing will be hugs and handshakes!

We have partnered with the “Top Shelf” in Virtual Spaces, with a 3D atmosphere and the best tools for engagement! We have so many surprises in store for you too!

SPAC 2021 will start on January 27th, however our educational sessions will be stored in the Resource Library (yes, a virtual room that looks like a library!), after their initial broadcast.  The whole environment including this Resource Library Room is open until April 1st, for paid attendees!  

Additionally, the SPAC Board is offering this conference at an unheard of price as our way of supporting all of our fellow independent volume photographers! We are supporting you through the uncertainty with the knowledge that our commitment to the industry is our primary objective! We have priced our Sponsorships/Vendor levels to show our gratitude to our many industry partners!
We will continue to deliver top notch education and engaging sessions with the mindset of…
Collaborate not Collide!

Conference Schedule

***This is a working draft, subject to change***
*** Final Schedule and Session Descriptions available in December***

See General Schedule and more Details by clicking “Schedule” above!

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  • Day 1

    January 27, 2021 (Wednesday)

  • Day 2

    January 28, 2021 (Thursday)

  • Day 3

    January 29, 2021 (Friday)

  • Day 4

    January 30, 2021 (Saturday)

  • Coming Soon!
    Sports
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • I will discuss many of the steps you need to begin in Volume Photography and processes you will need to organize your workflow for maximum effectiveness. Sample Bullet Points: ** Types of Business Structures (Corp; Sole Proprietorship; etc.) ** Insurance ** Business Licenses ** Where to learn basic photography skills ** Professional Organizations ** Backing up images ** Crowd control in the age of Covid-19 ** Covid-19 safety procedures ** How to Determine staffing ** Sample numbering systems ** Branding: Looking established with shirts; tablecloths, etc. ** Agreements ** Checklists ** Posing ** Scheduling Picture Day ** Dont take a job you are not ready for
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Some photographers entering the volume segment are immediately successful, while others struggle to make the transition. Volume photography expert Chris Wunder will share the top ten mistakes “newbies” often make that can be the difference between success and failure. If your business isn’t growing fast enough, this program can help you identify and address the obstacles standing in your way.
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • In the sports photography market we do not act or look like the other "business" in the world and that needs to change if we want to keep up. One reason why people think they can negotiate with us as photographers is because we don't have a professional business image along with the correct marketing materials to make us look like actual companies. In this class I cover everything from your logo, brand colors, marketing materials and so much more that ultimately create your business "Image". If you look like a company people will respect you more, have more confidence in purchasing (spend more) and ultimately you will get more jobs in the process.
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Event Photography-Online viewing taken to the next level.
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Sports
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Coming Soon!
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • Coming soon!
    Business
    Where
    Napa Room

  • Coming Soon!
    Sports
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Employee applications, interviews and who to hire. How to fine the right ones. Background checks, training and supervising. Written guidelines and employee handbooks. Written shoot evaluations and critiques. When employees go bad... In the voice of Princess Elsa, Let em GOOOOO, Let em GOOOOO!!! How to set yourself up for success before they even take a photo for you!
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Pricing, KPI's, analytics
    Business
    Where
    Napa Room

  • Cherished Memories Photography has been working with schools producing Senior and Underclass Portraits for 20 years! Owner, Mike Norkin, has led the charge in expanding his business in what started with a small garage studio, to 4 studios spread out over Southern California with 80 schools, 13,500 contract seniors, and 100,000+ heads on a yearly basis! Join Mike and his lead staff in an overview of their workflow and processes for on-site Student IDs from capturing to printing!
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • Coming soon!
    Sports
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • Coming Soon!
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • 84% of customers say being treated like a person, not a number, is very important to winning their business. 63% of customers expect companies to provide new products/services more frequently than ever before. Customer expectations are high and technology is evolving at a breakneck pace. You’ll learn what it takes to not only meet but exceed your customer’s expectations in this rapidly changing world of volume photography.
    Business
    Where
    Napa Room

  • This class will discuss how to get started with school volume photography. We will cover how to market for volume
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • Learn how to quickly execute a picture day in the volume world using "progressions". Multiple poses and expressions are key to giving parents what they want and increasing your sales. In this 60 minute presentation, Jay Boatwright will share key techniques that will allow you to stand out and be successful with selling volume photography in an online world.
    Sports
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Prospect, Meet, Present, Close. Sounds easy right? For most people, not so much. If you want to grow your business, that means you must get new accounts. Find the motivation to get them. In this session, let’s get excited about growing your business and taking it to the next level.
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • Coming Soon!
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Coming Soon!
    Sports
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Coming Soon!
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • Coming Soon!
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Discussion of online sales results
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Napa Room

  • Every business has a sales funnel - some just don't work. Mitchell will help you define the elements of your funnel and create a unique sales process (funnel) that guides targeted customers through the process to sign with YOU. Free sample funnels are provided (through accessible links) to anyone attending the class.
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Schools

  • From my experience over the past 8 years, I will talk about how we run successful Easter Bunny and Santa portrait sessions at a local garden center. I will explain the equipment we use to shoot, sell and print these photos on location as fast as possible. In addition to our Easter Bunny we have in a costume, we add in live bunny sessions on the weekends that bring in hundreds of people and can generate over 10K+ in revenue a weekend. I will discuss our computer / printer set up in detail, pricing, staffing, photo sets, where to get your costumes & live bunnies, and our financial setup with our garden center.
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Like it or not, the School & Preschool photo industry is greatly influenced by product and service benchmarks set by Minnesota’s “dark side.” The good news is that their challenges thru 2020 can spell o-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-t-y for local, independent volume photographers who outwit and outplay them. Learn the latest about what’s happening at Lifetouch, and how you can take advantage of it.
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Other

  • How to make money and be a hero for your schools with traditional and virtual graduations! We will talk about the process, pricing and the top items you need to know to be successful.
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Marketing is one of the most important aspects to growing a business and in today's ever changing landscape of technology change can make it hard to keep up. We've compiled 5 practical steps to automate key aspects of your marketing campaigns so that your marketing is working, even when you're not. Automate your emails, your follow-ups, your post-cards mailers, your online social media posts to drive awareness of your business and leads for revenue. Elias is the CEO of Entourage Yearbooks and runs sales and marketing for Entourage. His background is as a sales and marketing consultant from McKinsey & Company where he advised fortune 500 companies on how to drive efficiency is sales and marketing investments.
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Napa Room

  • Since the COVID-19 outbreak, schools must factor health standards into every decision. School picture days are no exception. At Schoolhouse Pictures, we specialize in taking outdoor pictures which are a safe alternative to traditional school pictures. Additionally, our online ordering process means less handling for school staff and parents. School pictures have not changed much in 100 years. Most companies still use paper order forms, require parents to prepay without seeing their pictures, take only one picture, use fake backdrops, and use camera operators rather than actual photographers. In 2008, I started Schoolhouse Pictures to create a more modern look and tie pictures to education at childcare centers and elementary schools across the nation. We have been way ahead of the industry by doing it differently.
    Schools

  • Coming Soon!
    Sports
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • After discussing the basics of WHY at last year's SPAC we'll dive deeper into specific message formats for targeting different personality types as you seek to book schools, leagues, etc. Specific message examples will show how to craft your message for each or all of the types involved.
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Napa Room

  • In this session, we will talk about the steps we took to scale up our business while making sure that we didn't sacrifice profitability, consistency, client, or customer experience. We'll talk about software that has simplified our work. How we moved from prepay to view first and the way these changes and advances have made up more desirable to new schools!
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Coming Soon!
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • As school photography moves toward recovery, let’s hear how some of our Industry partners have used this challenging time to invest in the future. An essential step in making sure your studio is ready to tackle what’s next is executing on prudent and timely investments to ensure efficiency, security, quality, and scalability for long term growth. Please join us in a panel discussion to learn more and reflect on 2020, a year for the record books. Finding the silver lining and how we can use difficult situations for opportunities to improve are important perspectives. Moderator: Marilyn Lam, Vice President of Sales - PhotoLynx & ImageQuix
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Takeaways, assembling all the required assets to create a marketing video brochure for your youth sports or school photography company. * How long should the video be * what software platforms to use to create it * What hardware/cameras is required * Where to post the Videos and how to share them Eric will go through the steps to create a Video Marketing Brochure that will demonstrate how your company is organized, ontime and why Schools and Sports Leagues should partner with you.
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • One on One coaching by some of the industry leaders!
    Schools
    Where
    Social Lounge

  • One on One Coaching by some of Industry Leaders!
    Sports
    Where
    Social Lounge

  • One on One coaching from some of the Industry Leaders!
    Business
    Where
    Social Lounge

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Napa Room

  • Demo and instruction of the tetherless and automated workflow solution by PhotoDay using their Capture/Facial Recognition software for both schools and sports volume photographers.
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • With industry workflows/processes changing towards contactless currently, we want to give people the know-how of how to create an efficient/optimize their workflow and sales process for different shoot situations (schools, preschools, seniors, dance, etc.) post covid-19.
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma A

  • Coming Soon!
    Schools
    Where
    Sonoma B

  • Many photographers cover social events as part of school contracts. And even more see social events as an opportunity to make money but bill for their time. But we have several different models for making money at social events ranging from high school dances or charity balls to fan photography at tailgating. Learn the tips & tricks you need to be successful in social!
    Other
    Where
    Sonoma C

  • Coming Soon!
    Business
    Where
    Napa Room

Our Speakers

Check out our Educational Team!
Di Murphy

Di Murphy

Tintype Studio, Inc.
Carmel Jane

Carmel Jane

Carmel Jane Photography LTD- Owner
Mitchell Moore

Mitchell Moore

BigMoneyPhotography
Bill Freeman

Bill Freeman

Freeman Photography
Chip Wagner

Chip Wagner

Wagner Portrait Group- Director of Sales

Nikki Doo

Nikki Doo

Perfect Portraits
Rob Resing

Rob Resing

Owner/Artist and personal friend of Santa
Eric Miller

Eric Miller

Irvin Simon Photographers- President & CEO
Shaun DeMint

Shaun DeMint

Photo Solutions
Stella Crase

Stella Crase

Stella Crase, CPP MiniPros Sports Photos- Owner

Gail Roser

Gail Roser

Grand Photography LLC- Owner
Dan Serfilippi

Dan Serfilippi

United Portraits- Professional Problem Solver
Haim Ariav

Haim Ariav

Glossy Finish - Founder & CEO
Elias Jo

Elias Jo

Entourage Yearbooks- CEO
Rich Banick

Rich Banick

Rich Banick Photography

Neal Lester

Neal Lester

Strawbridge Studios
Mike Strawbridge

Mike Strawbridge

Vice President- Strawbridge Studios Inc.
Calvin Harrell, Jr.

Calvin Harrell, Jr.

My Legacy Matters
Kendrick Brown

Kendrick Brown

Kendricks Photography-Owner/Operator
Lorinda Thompson

Lorinda Thompson

Inter-State Studio – Sales Trainer
Cristina O’Connor

Cristina O’Connor

Candid Color Photography- Customer Support Manager
Justin Stottlmeyre

Justin Stottlmeyre

Dorian Studios- Marketing & Communications
Jesus Garcia

Jesus Garcia

GSP Studios Inc.- Owner
Kyle Anderson

Kyle Anderson

Team DSP

Rodney Getz

Rodney Getz

Champion City Photography- Owner
Stephanie Gamble

Stephanie Gamble

PhotoDay-
Stevie Williams

Stevie Williams

PhotoDay-
Suzette Allen

Suzette Allen

A Picture of Hope- Photographic Artist, Educator.
Neal Freed & Bryan Blanken

Neal Freed & Bryan Blanken

Freed SPIRIT
Marilyn Lam

Marilyn Lam

VP of Sales ImageQuix/ Photolynx
Calvin Harrell, Jr.

Calvin Harrell, Jr.

My Legacy Matters
Marion Hughes

Marion Hughes

Educator
Beth Jones

Beth Jones

Robert Ste-Marie

Robert Ste-Marie

36 Pix- President & Chief Executive Officer
James Schmelzer

James Schmelzer

Elite Photographic Studio- Owner/Operator

Jeff Edwards

Jeff Edwards

Scholastic Reflections- Owner
Ed Monahan

Ed Monahan

Edward Monahan Consulting, LLC.- President

Our Sponsors

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